The Russian yards best equipped for a complex destroyer programme are already busy with naval and commercial orders. Their commercial work includes tugboats, oil rigs, and survey vessels, often for foreign customers paying in hard currency. The comparison given for Sevmash is fourteen submarines against more than a hundred commercial vessels over the same period. Commercial orders help finance the yard and keep it operating. Diverting capacity to a Lider therefore carries an economic cost as well as a scheduling cost.
Notable Point · 31:20-33:03
Commercial orders compete for Russia's most capable shipyards
Specialist commercial orders bring hard currency to busy Russian yards. Building a Lider could displace work that helps finance the construction capacity it needs.